


Uncaged

by Pastelbirb (orphan_account)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: I don't know where I was going with this, M/M, Semi-poetic rambling, Sort of inspired by that one line in Highlight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9234725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Pastelbirb
Summary: Minghao dances like he breathes.





	

Minghao is like a bird. Quiet, quiet, quiet - graceful movements more like a wind than a mechanism of skin and flesh and bone, or maybe it's just that the wind carries him more carefully than his own feet ever did.

His flight is a flawless one, each move executed perfectly and as naturally as if he was born to do this, was born _doing_ this - Minghao dances like he breathes.

He dances like he breathes, and sometimes this means that the air gets caught in his throat; sometimes this means that dancing feels like the only thing keeping him alive; sometimes this means that he chokes.

Practice feels like dragging fresh air into his lungs even when he's on the floor, gasping. He holds his breath when he's about to go on stage and nothing feels like it can kill him as slowly and as painfully as a missed step. His mistakes will stay with him for hours, days, forcing his breath to come quicker as if to make up for the way it feels like something is stuck in his throat.

Minghao is like a bird, body devoid of unnecessary fat to weigh it down, all fragile bone and bright, sharp eyes and feathers made out of too-large sweaters that slide up to show hipbones when he spreads his wings.

Junhui thinks he'll probably never tire of watching Minghao dance. Bird-watching always seemed silly to him - why observe when you can _do_ , why look up to see creatures so different from yourself doing something you will ever be able to, why subject yourself to the inevitable envy that must come with watching birds fly while your own feet stay firmly planted in the dirt? - but when the music starts he sits completely still and he understands two things:

Junhui understands that people watch birds because the fascination is bigger than the envy and because sometimes watching others be completely free to do what they love makes you feel a little freer too.

Junhui understands how it's possible for something to be so beautiful it hurts.

Minghao doesn't have talons but something about him claws at Junhui's heart, and he thinks maybe he's okay with that as long as he gets to watch him move like he's weightless - maybe he is, Junhui supposes, in a less concrete way.

He hasn't slept much tonight. Junhui can tell, knows it the moment he sees him enter the dance studio just like he knows when Minghao thinks his hyungs are being stupid or when he thinks Soonyoung's antics are actually a little funny or when he misses home more than he wants to, even though he tries to hide all of these things behind a crumbling mask of apathy. Being away from their country is hard even though they've built their own makeshift home out of people. Korea isn't China, and they've got each other but sometimes even that isn't enough. They both have bad nights. Sometimes they have bad nights together.

Junhui doesn't say anything about it. Minghao doesn't like air shaped like words as much as he likes the air beneath his wings. They both know, anyway. Junhui claps his shoulder as he walks past him and that's enough. He looks at Minghao as Soonyoung goes to start the music, and knows that in a moment he'll be left to observe in wonder and sadness but never envy as Minghao goes where he can't follow. The music starts. Minghao lifts his wings, and he flies.

**Author's Note:**

> I swear one day I'll write something longer than 2k words.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading this! All feedback is very much appreciated!


End file.
